Top 10: Football teams 'too good to go down'

It is just like when your team's manager introduces his latest centre forward
by saying "he's scored goals for every club he's played for". You
know then that he'll never hit the target again. The same goes for when some
so-called informed expert describes your struggling bunch out-of-form no
hopers as "too good to be relegated". From that moment the only
way is down.

1. West Ham 2002-03 It was a fitting end to a bitter and acrimonious season at Upton Park. Sir Trevor Brooking stepped in to look after his beloved club after Glenn Roeder was diagnosed with a brain tumour but even he could not rescue a team that contained future England internationals Glen Johnson, Michael Carrick, Jermaine Defoe and Joe Cole.

2 Leeds United 2003-2004 Financial meltdown led to the inevitable fire sale but Leeds still had Alan Smith, Paul Robinson and Mark Viduka at their disposal. Leeds legend Eddie Gray presided over the culmination to a torrid season which saw Leeds relegated just three years after a Champions League semi-final appearance.

3. Sheffield Wednesday 1999-2000 The 1990s had seen Sheffield Wednesday become an established Premier League force but by the close of the decade an expensively assembled squad of foreign talent went into a spiral of decline. Hammered 8-0 by Newcastle in September, Wednesday never recovered and were relegated. Three years later their fall was completed by the drop to League One.

4. Middlesbrough 1996-97 A talented team reached the final of the FA and League Cups but were hopeless in the league. They were docked three points for missing a fixture at Blackburn due to a flu epidemic at the club and lost midfielder Emerson when he mysteriously returned to Brazil halfway through the season.

5. Nottingham Forest 1992-93 Brian Clough's managerial career ended in tears and relegation at the City Ground, closing an era that brought two European Cups to the unfashionable Midlands club. Forest never recovered from the sale of Des Walker to Juventus and the baffling decision to let Teddy Sheringham join Tottenham Hostspur.

6. Blackburn 1998-99 In the days when an Englishman could afford to buy a Premier League title, Blackburn had climbed to the top of English football thanks to the money of their benefactor Jack Walker. Four years after securing the Premier League title Blackburn were relegated under former Manchester United assistant manager Brian Kidd.

7. Manchester United 1973-74 Okay, they probably were not too good to be relegated but this is Manchester United, so they have to be included. The ghost of Matt Busby stalked the Old Trafford corridors and Tommy Docherty was unable to live up to the great man's legacy. That Denis Law's back-heel confirmed their relegation on the final day only added to the misery. United were promoted the following season with a young Steve Coppell in their ranks.

8. Leicester City 2007-08 Having been relegated from the Premier League in 2004, City were relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time in their history. Manager Ian Holloway left Plymouth to take up the Leicester job in November. He left the club by "mutual consent" days after their relegation.

9. Juventus, Lazio and Fiorentina 2006 Definitely too good to be relegated but not necessarily too crooked. Juventus were stripped of two Serie A titles as well as demoted to Serie B for their part in a match-fixing scandal.

10. Tottenham Hotspur 2008-09? Juande Ramos has presided over a worse start to the season than the one which cost Martin Jol his job and the doom around White Hart Lane spreads with every ropey performance. Are they next?